


Words Not Spoken Are Filled With Regrets

by luvscharlie



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Community: throneland, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-12
Updated: 2013-10-12
Packaged: 2017-12-29 05:00:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1001179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luvscharlie/pseuds/luvscharlie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Catelyn can't stop Ned from leaving, but she doesn't want him to take her children.  But even she doesn't realize how much they need to stay together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Words Not Spoken Are Filled With Regrets

**Title:** Words Not Spoken Are Filled With Regrets  
 **Author:** [](http://luvscharlie.livejournal.com/profile)[**luvscharlie**](http://luvscharlie.livejournal.com/)  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** None  
 **Word Count:** 319  
 **Characters/pairings:** Ned/Catelyn (gen)  
 **Summary:** Catelyn can't stop Ned from leaving, but she doesn't want him to take her children. But even she doesn't realize how much they need to stay together.  
 **A/N:** Originally written for a drabble (100-500 words) challenge at [](http://throneland.livejournal.com/profile)[**throneland**](http://throneland.livejournal.com/) where the prompt was the quote by Rudyard Kipling below.

***

_Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky;_  
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die.  
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back—  
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.  
\-- _The Jungle Book_ by Rudyard Kipling

***

Catelyn wants nothing more than for Jon to leave. To go with Benjen to the Wall and take his life's vow. To leave Winterfell and not return. Ned thinks he's too young yet, still just a boy. He wants to wait until next year, to send Jon after he returns from King's Landing. Ned will feel better if Jon is here standing beside Robb in his absence, should Robb need him.

She doesn't accept that. If Ned's leaving, the least he can do is send the bastard somewhere she won't have to see him. She's endured him too long. The Wall is as good a place as any. She will be here if Robb needs someone. Ned wants the girls to go with him, but they belong to her. They're **her** daughters and she wasn't ready to let them go. She can't stop her husband from following their foolish King and doing his bidding; Ned was strong-willed and headstrong that way. But she'll be damned if he's taking her children.

Catelyn got her wish, in part. On the day Ned takes her daughters and heads to King's Landing, Benjen Stark takes Jon Snow to the Wall. She won't have to look at the product of her husband's indiscretion any longer. Each child takes its direwolf, and Catelyn has the sinking feeling that her family will never again be complete. She almost throws herself at her husband's feet and begs him to change it all. She'll even keep the bastard if he'll but leave her girls.

But that's not how the Lady of Winterfell is meant to behave. She holds her tongue so as not to embarrass her husband in front of his King, his hero.

And each day hence, she wishes she'd found her tongue. A bit of embarrassment would have been a small price to pay to save her family… even the bit of family she never wanted.


End file.
